Screw guide

ABSTRACT

A door panel has a recess bored therein and has a lock unit overlying the recess, the lock unit being fastened in place by at least one screw having its head captured within the lock unit and accessible through an opening in the unit smaller than the screw head. A screw guide within the recess has a body clipped to the lock unit and has a wall engaging and supporting a portion of the screw, the wall having a tubular extension, in some cases, affording additional screw support. The body also has a flange projecting into the recess, at least adjacent the bottom portion thereof, to serve as a guard. When two similar lock units are installed at opposite ends of a through recess, their respective guard flanges overlap or telescope and act as alignment guides.

[ Mar. 11, 1975 SCREW GUIDE [75] Inventor: Ralph E. Neary, San Francisco,

Calif.

[73] Assignee: Schlage Loch Company, San

Francisco, Calif.

22 Filed: Jan. 24, 1973 211 App]. No.: 326,370

[52] US. Cl. 70/451, 70/DIG. 60 [51] Int. Cl E051) 9/08 [58] Field of Search 70/370, 371, 443, 448,

70/449, 451, 416, 417, 452, DIG. 43, DIG. 60; 292/346, DIG. 38, DIG. 53

3,647,252 3/1972 Nolin et a1. 292/D1G. 53 X Primary Examiner-Robert L. Wolfe Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Lothrop & West [5 7] ABSTRACT A door panel has a recess bored therein and has a lock unit overlying the recess, the lock unit being fastened in place by at least one screw having its head captured within the lock unit and accessible through an opening in the unit smaller than the screw head. A screw guide within the recess has a body clipped to the lock unit and has a wall engaging and supporting a portion of the screw, the wall having a tubular extension, in some cases, affording additional screw support. The body also has a flange projecting into the recess, at least adjacent the bottom portion thereof, to serve as a guard. When two similar lock units are installed at opposite ends, of a through recess, their respective guard flanges overlap or telescope and act as alignment guides.

2 Claims, 15 Drawing Figures PATENTEDHAR] H975 sum 1 1 3 PATENTED MAR 1 I875 provide a bore part way or entirely through the door panel to receive the lock mechanism. It is highly desirable to provide a means for easily attaching or mounting the lock mechanism on the door panel and in a way to make it difficult to remove the lock mechanism by those unauthorized to do so. It is also desirable to protect the lock mechanism against interference by miscellaneous debris lodged in the mounting recess during the installation process or otherwise.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a screw guide that can readily be utilized with currently available locks and normal lock installations to assist in mounting the locks in the door panels.

Another object of the invention is to provide a screw guide effective to keep miscellaneous interferants; for example, debris, away from the lock mechanism, at installation and thereafter.

A further object of the invention is to provide a screw guide effective to assist in aligning a pair of facing lock parts in an installation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a mechanism which makes it difficult for an unauthorized person to remove an installed lock unit.

A further object of the invention is to provide a screw guide that can readily be added to lock units of a wellknown construction to afford extra protection and benefit thereto.

A further object of the invention is in general to provide an improved screw guide for a lock.

Other objects together with the foregoing are attained in the embodiment of the invention described in the accompanying description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. I is a front elevation of a door panel, portions being broken away, showing a typical installation therein of a lock mechanism having a screw guide;

FIG. 2 is a view showing an inside elevation of a portion of the lock mechanism disclosed in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section, the planes of which are indicated by the lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

. FIG. 4 is a cross-section on an axial, vertical plane through a lock mechanism installed in a door panel and including a screw guide;

FIG. 5 is an end elevation of the structure of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a view comparable to FIG. 4 but showing lock mechanism installed on opposite sides of a single panel;

FIG. 7 is a view comparable to FIG. 6 but showing a lock installation with a thumb turn device;

FIG. 8 is a view comparable to FIG. 6 but showing the installation of a lock mechanism on one side of a door panel, the opposite side of the panel being blank;

FIG. 9 is a view comparable to FIG. 6 and showing a lock installation with one side of the panel having a cover plate;

FIG. 10 is a side elevation of one form of screw guide constructed pursuant to the invention;

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of one end of the screw guide shown in FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is an elevational view of the other end of the screw guide of FIG. 10;

FIG. 13 is a side elevation of a complementary form of screw guide;

FIG. 14 is an elevational viewof one end of the screw guide of FIG. 13; and

FIG. 15 is an elevational view of the other end of the screw guide of FIG. 13.

Devices according to the invention can be embodied in a number of different ways and can be variously installed with a number of different adjuncts in a number of different environments. For explanation herein there are considered different installations in a door panel 6 of the customary kind having a free edge 7, a reverse face 8 and an obverse face 9. Both sides of this door panel may be equally vulnerable, but the face 9 may be assumed for description herein to be exposed, or on the outside of a building, or somehow more vulnerable, whereas the face 8 is assumed to be protected or less vulnerable.

The panel 6 is prepared by having a cross bore 11 in the form of a recess extending partly or entirely through the panel and opening onto the face 8 or both faces 8 and 9 through circular apertures. lntersecting the bore 11 or recess is an edge bore 12 for the reception ofa bolt mechanism, not shown, intended to be actuated by a lock structure extending into the recess 1].

Designed to fit within the bore 11 and especially to abut the door panel on the reverse or less vulnerable side 8 is a cover unit such as a lock mechanism of the kind shown in the copending application of Ralph E. Neary entitled Thumb Turn Lock Mechanism" Ser. No. 164,693 filed July 21, 1971 and now U.S. Pat. No. 3,713,683 issued Jan. 30, 1973 and assigned to the assignee hereof. In this kind of lock there is provided a domed plate 13 projecting from the reverse face 8 of the panel and having associated therewith a dished plate 14. The two plates are appropriately related to each other by lugs 15. Preferably the domed plate 13 is covered by a scalp 16 or skin of decorative metal, inturned or flanged at the margin.

Partially housed by the two plates 13 and 14 and lying in a hole 17 in the plate 13 is a lock body 18 including a plug arranged for the reception of a key in the customary fashion and rotatable about a central axis. The lock body 18 is of standard construction including the customary wing 19 for the reception of tumblers cooperating with a proper key to actuate a driver bar 20. This is engaged with the mechanism of the bolt in the bore 12 so as to project and retract the bolt when the key is actuated in the customary way.

The domed plate 13 is so configured as to rest against the reverse face 8 of the door panel and is conveniently held thereagainst by one or more, usually two, screws 21 and 22. These screws are provided with relatively long, threaded shanks 23 and have heads 24 provided with tool receiving recesses 25 of relatively uncommon configuration, usually of the Allen or Phillips type, although they are not necessarily of either of these two forms. It is preferred that the heads of the screws be sufficiently unusual so that they are not operable by the customary blade screw driver.

At assembly each of the screws 21 and 22 is preferably inserted first through the opening I7 in the plate 13, since that opening is not, upon initial assembly, occupied by the lock body 18. The shank 23 and the trailing head are readily passed lengthwise through the opening 17 at an angle and through a side opening 26 in the plate 14. The screw is straightened and moved inwardly until the head 24 finally comes to rest against the plate 14 and overlying the side opening 26 which is larger in diameter than the shank 23 but smaller in diameter than the head 24.

Subsequently, the lock body 18 is passed through a hole 29 in the plate 14 connected to the side openings 26 by restricted passages 27 and comes to rest in the opening 17 in the plate 13. The lock body is retained by a removable spring retainer clip 31 engaging the plate 14 as more fully described in the mentioned Neary application. When the lock body 18 has been installed and clipped in position, the head 24 of each screw 21 is loosely captured between the lock body 18,.

the dished plate 14 and the domed plate 13. The screw shank 23 is larger than the passage 27 and so is confined to the side opening 26 but with considerable looseness.

The customary door installation of a lock element of this kind following usual practice is somewhat awkward. When the dished plate 14 is first positioned against the door panel the loosely confined screws 21 and 22 extend therefrom into the recess 11 more or less in random directions. However, it is necessary to move or adjust the screws into nearly exact parallelism with the lock body axis and into particular locations in order to engage them with threaded openings 30 in a similar unit 32 abutting the other face of the panel.

To assist in the alignment of the screws 21 and 22 during installation, there is provided, pursuant to the present invention, a screw guide 36 (FIGS. 10, 11 and 12). As shown particularly in FIGS. 4 and 5, the screw guide 36 in one form includes a drum-like body 37 of any suitable material; for example, plastic having a cylindrical side wall 38 and a planar end wall 39. The screw guide is held in position by a pair of opposed lugs 41 and 42 formed integrally therewith and including springy tips 43 and 44 designed to be snapped behind and to engage the inturned flange 46 of the scalp 16 or cover on the domed plate 13. That is, the relative flexibility of the inturned flange 46 and of the lugs 41 and 42 is such that the lugs and flange can be snapped into and out of position by hand with ease. When the parts are in position for interengagement, partial peripheral rims 47 formed on the lugs rest against the inner margin of the flange 46 so that the screw guide is held in alignment with the lock mechanism.

The wall 39 of the screw guide is not solid but rather has a major opening 48 (FIG. 4) to receive projecting portions of the lock unit 18. Furthermore, the wall 39 is provided with one or more openings 49 and 50 only slightly larger than the threaded shank of the screws 21 and 22. The screws can pass readily through such openings but are easily engaged and supported by the walls of the openings and so are held closely in position and in parallelism with the lock body axis. In some instances, instead of relying solely upon the support of the wall 39, although it is beneficially distant from the screw support in the dished plate 14, I provide integrally with the screw guide wall 39 one or more tubular members 51 and 52. These extend inwardly of the recess 11 and serve as elongated guides for the screws so that the screw alignment is precise. The guides can tightly engage the screws to inhibit unscrewing. The captive screws are thus easily assembled and supported in position to interengage with the receptive threaded sockets 30 in the receiving unit 32. Lock mounting is thus quite easy.

It is a feature of this arrangement that access to the head 24 ofeach of the screws is through one of a pair of quite restricted openings 53 and 54 extending through the scalp l6 and the domed plate 13. The diameter of each of the openings is only slightly larger than the minimum requirement to pass a tool such as an Allen wrench or a Phillips screw driver to engage the socket 25 in the screw head. The openings 53 and 54 are larger than the socket 25 but smaller than the heads 24 of the screws. The screws cannot be withdrawn through the openings 53 and 54 but a proper tool has ready, straight line access to the sockets. With this arrangement it is simple to locate the lock units on the panel, to engage the screws and to tighten the screws into clamping position. Without the appropriate wrench or tool the units cannot be removed from the panel.

Depending upon the preferences of the user or the requirements of the job, the component carrying the dished plate 14 and the component 32 can be reversed in position on the panel. Threaded openings such as the openings 30, can be disposed one in the unit 32 and one in the dished plate 14 while side openings 26 can correspondingly be disposed one in the unit 32 and one in the dished plate 14 with effective openings 53 and 54 similarly positioned and with or without additional, inactive openings.

In addition to improving the screw installation alignment, the screw guide body 37 acts as a protector or guard. The body 37 can be extended, as shown in FIG. 4, by an integral flange 61. This is approximately circularcylindrical in partial contour and extends parallel to the lock body axis into the recess in the panel. The flange 61 can extend as a substantially complete ring around the entire periphery of the screw guide, but it is only necessary in most cases to have it extend over the bottom portion of the recess 11.

In the usual installation the forming of the recess 11 and of the intersecting recess 12, particularly since the center portion of many door panels is'now made of particle board, produces chips, wood debris and the like which may congregate in the bottom portion of the recess 11. In the present case the guard flange 61 is helpful in keeping any such debris from the working portions of the lock components. In addition, the screw guide, especially when it includes the flange 61, serves generally as a protector and guard for the lock mechanism as a whole.

In many instances but a single screw guide is utilized in the recess 11, as in FIG. 4, but in other installations the recess is preferably provided with two screw guides, as shown in FIG. 6. In this latter case there is a locking mechanism 56 on one side of a panel 6A and there is another locking mechanism 57 on the other side of the panel 6A. The construction of both of the mechanisms 56 and 57 may be as described above but the righthand mechanism 57 has a different form of screw guide. The screw guides are interchangeable and either form can be used with either device 56 and 57. These devices are engaged by screws 21 and 22 in any fashion as described above. As an example, the mechanism 57 has a screw guide 66. This is more particularly shown in FIGS. 13, 14 and 15. The guide 66 includes a drumlike peripheral wall 67, as before, having lugs 68 and 69 to interengage with an inturned flange on the associated lock mechanism 57 but the transverse wall 70, instead of being planar, is preferably curved about a cross axis. The screw guide 66 includes walls defining a pair of apertures 71 and 72 serving as confining channels but without any tubular extensions thereof. There is an integral, projecting flange 73 or guard of substantially the same axial extent as the flange 61; that is, long enough to extend more than half-way through the usual recess 11 but the flange 73 is smaller in diameter than the flange 61. The guide 66 may be used alone but when both guides are used, the flanges 73 and 61, as shown in FIG. 6, serve in telescopic or overlapping fashion to act mutually as guides or aligning devices and as guards for the two mechanisms 56 and 57.

In a variant installation the arrangement is as shown in FIG. 7 in which the door panel 65 has an exterior lock mechanism 57 with a plate having threaded openings 30, and on the interior has a cover unit in the form of a thumb turn device 74 of the sort shown in the above-mentioned Neary patent. The device 74 has enlarged apertures in a plate 75 for receiving the headed ends of the screws 21 and 22. In the instance but a single screw guide 36 is utilized, a screw guide such as 66 being omitted.

In another installation, as in FIG. 8, the door panel 6C has a recess 76 therein which does not extend entirely therethrough but otherwise is comparable to the recess 11. A cover such as a lock unit 56 overlies the recess 76. Within the recess 76 is a semi-cylindrical keeper 77 with a planar face 78 designed to lie alongside a standard lock bolt frame 79 and having threaded screw receiving holes 80. A screw guide 66, as shown in FIGS. l3, l4 and 15, is utilized. The arcuately curved wall 70 effectively clears the semi-cylindrical keeper 77 while the guide 66 serves to assist the screws 81 in engaging the keeper. The flange 73 also acts as a guard for the lock mechanism especially against debris collected in the bottom of the recess 76.

In a still different installation in a panel 6D, as shown in FIG. 9, the cover lock unit 56 is as before. The recess 11 extends through the panel. On the inside surface of the panel is disposed a cover unit in the form of a disc 82 having bosses 83 with blind holes internally threaded to receive screws 84. A screw guide 36, as shown in FIGS. 10, l1 and 12, is used. Its tubes 51 and 52 guide and support the screws 84 for easy engagement with the threaded bosses 83 during installation of the lock mechanism 56 on the door panel. As an alternate, the bosses can be drilled through instead of threaded and a plate having threaded openings 30, as in FIG. 3, can be used with a lock unit 57 to receive the screws 84. The screw guide serves equally well in either arrangement; whether the screw guide is on the member with the threaded holes or is on the opposite ment ber.

What is claimed is:

1. In a door lock device mounted on a panel having a recess therethrough, a cover unit overlying said recess on one side of said panel and having a lock mechanism thereon provided with a rotatable driver bar extending into said recess, and a pair of parallel holding screws engaging said cover unit and extending through said recess into engagement with a cover member overlying said recess on the other side of said panel, the improvement comprising:

a member in said recess having a transverse wall in said recess spaced inwardly from said cover unit; resilient means releasably securing said member to said cover unit;

said transverse wall having an opening therethrough,

through which said driver bar loosely extends and a pair of tubular guides projecting inwardly therefrom and through which said holding screws slidabIy extend; and

an arcuate flange extending inwardly from said transverse wall and at least partially surrounding said driver bar.

2. A device as in claim 1 in which said cover unit includes a peripheral inwardly directed flange and said securing means includes lugs projecting radially from said member and into supported engagement with said flange. 

1. In a door lock device mounted on a panel having a recess therethrough, a cover unit overlying said recess on one side of said panel and having a lock mechanism thereon provided with a rotatable driver bar extending into said recess, and a pair of parallel holding screws engaging said cover unit and extending through said recess into engagement with a cover member overlying said recess on the other side of said panel, the improvement comprising: a member in said recess having a transverse wall in said recess spaced inwardly from said cover unit; resilient means releasably securing said member to said cover unit; said transverse wall having an opening therethrough, through which said driver bar loosely extends and a pair of tubular guides projecting inwardly therefrom and through which said holding screws slidably extend; and an arcuate flange extending inwardly from said transverse wall and at least partially surrounding said driver bar.
 1. In a door lock device mounted on a panel having a recess therethrough, a cover unit overlying said recess on one side of said panel and having a lock mechanism thereon provided with a rotatable driver bar extending into said recess, and a pair of parallel holding screws engaging said cover unit and extending through said recess into engagement with a cover member overlying said recess on the other side of said panel, the improvement comprising: a member in said recess having a transverse wall in said recess spaced inwardly from said cover unit; resilient means releasably securing said member to said cover unit; said transverse wall having an opening therethrough, through which said driver bar loosely extends and a pair of tubular guides projecting inwardly therefrom and through which said holding screws slidably extend; and an arcuate flange extending inwardly from said transverse wall and at least partially surrounding said driver bar. 